Portal bushing for product container

ABSTRACT

A portal bushing for use in a reservoir assembly of a product container and including means for interlocking with a reservoir body to translate the forces developed during operation of the product container without exerting continual stress.

United States Patent 1'91 Vasas May 13, 1975 [54] PORTAL BUSHING FORPRODUCT $180,421 10/1966 Davidson 401/122 174L666 6/l973 Vasas et al40l/l 27 [75] Inventor: Martin M. Vasas, Fairfield, Conn [73] Assignee:The Bridgeport Metal Goods Primary Examiner ljawrence CharlesManufacturing Company Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wooster, Davis & CifelliBridgeport Conn.

[22] Filed: Apr. 5. I973 2 l] Appl. No; 348.104 [57] ABSTRACT A portalbushing for use in a reservoir assembly of a CL 401/122 productcontainer and including means for interlock- P A4611 m ing with areservoir body to translate the forces devel- Field of Search 401/121430 oped during operation of the product container with out exertingcontinual stress [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Claims,6 Drawing Figures 3,l95,545 7/[965 Ledenherg et all t 461/122 CONTAINERPORTAL BUSHING FOR PRODUCT CONTAINER The present invention relates to aportal bushing for use in a reservoir assembly and especially such abushing having provisions for retaining the reservoir assembly withoutexerting continual stress therein. Reservoir assemblies can be utilizedto contain products for a wide variety of purposes such as cosmetics.paint. glue, or medicine and those products can be in many differentforms such as liquid, gel, or compressed powder. For most products anapplicator affixes to the reservoir assembly in creating a compactproduct container. For such product containers, the applicator must havea sealed access into the reservoir assembly and must be detachablyaffixed thereto. The portal bushing is usually adapted to cooperate inproviding both the sealed access and the detachable affixment, and onewellknown portal bushing is disclosed in US. Pat. No.. 3,549,266 whichwas issued to the present applicant.

As shown in the above mentioned patent, the applicator typically extendsthrough the bushing to interface with the product stored in a reservoirbody. A sealing means is provided on the bushing to preclude the product from leaking between it and either the reservoir body or theapplicator. Threads are disposed on the bushing by which the applicatoris detachably affixed to the reservoir assembly. Therefore, duringutilization of the product container, torsional forces are translatedthrough the bushing due to the mating threads, while thrust forces aretranslated through the bushing due to the pressure exerted against theapplicator by the sealing means.

Reservoir assemblies of this type are retained against these thrust andtorsional forces by an interference fit between the bushing and thereservoir body, and therefore, an continual stress is exertedtherebetween. Variations in the type of product, the structure of theappli' cator and the size of the reservoir body cause the interferencefit necessary for translating each of these forces to differ widely inmagnitude for some product containers. Where a large spread existsbetween these forces, the interference fit must be sufficient totranslate the larger force and, therefore, the continual stress isalways proportional to the larger force. Depending on the materialsutilized in these parts and their specific configuration, the continualstress developed may result in the occurrence of creep to causedistortion in the parts over a period of time. The interference fitdeteriorates in proportion to this distortion and therefore, after creepoccurs. the reservoir assembly is no longer useful because the forcesencountered therein can no longer be translated between the bushing andreservoir body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore. a general object of thepresent invention to provide a portal bushing which is utilized in areservoir assembly to minimize and obviate the disadvantages of theprior art.

It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a portalbushing which includes means for interlocking with a reservoir body totranslate forces therebetween without exerting continual stress.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide aportal bushing having a lip which is engageable with a groove on areservoir body to translate thrust forces therebetween.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a portalbushing which includes means for penetrating a reservoir body totranslate torsional forces therebetween.

These objects are accomplished in one form according to the presentinvention by arranging an annular lip and teeth on the bushing tocooperatively engage respectively with a groove and a penetrable portionon a reservoir body. Both the annular lip and the teeth are peripherallydisposed about the longitudinal axis of the bushing and both requirethat forces be exerted between the bushing and the reservoir body whenassembly occurs therebetween. After assembly. however, no continualinternal force is necessary to retain the assembly and, therefore, nodistortion from creep is encountered in either the bushing or thereservoir body. When the assembly is utilized as part ofa productcontainer, the thrust forces developing between the bushing and thereservoir body are translated through the annular lip while thetorsional forces developing there between are translated through theteeth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The manner in which these and otherobjects of the invention are achieved will be best understood byreference to the following description, the appended claims, and theFigures of the attached drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an assembled product containerincluding a reservoir assembly and an applicator with portions thereofcut away to illustrate the portal bushing of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial elevational view of the reservoir assemblywith the applicator entering through the portal bushing and withportions thereof cut away to illustrate the operation of theinterlocking means on the bushing;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the bushing and the sealing meansillustrating one suitable construction for the bushing;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of the reservoir assembly, takensubstantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 to illustrate the engagementattained between the teeth on the bushing and the penetrable portion onthe reservoir body;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial sectional view similar to that of FIG. 4and illustrating the use of periodically grouped teeth on the bushing;and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial sectional view similar to FIG. 4 andillustrating the use of teeth on the penetrable portion of the reservoirbody.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now to the drawing, andmore particularly to FIG. I, there is illustrated a product container 10in which a reservoir assembly 12 and an applicator 14 are detachablyjoined. The applicator 14 is constructed of a cylindrical shell 16within which is mounted a cupshaped insert 18 providing female threads20 and se curing one end of a shaft 22. At the other end of the shaft22, longitudinally arranged bristles form a tip 24 to which productadheres when the applicator I4 is joined to the reservoir assembly I2.Other types of applicator tips are known in that the bristles on sometips are radially arranged, while other tips have only spiral groovesand still other tips are made of either felt or cellular foams in boththe open and closed cell variet ies. Although these other types of tipsare not shown in this disclosure to be useable with the portal bushingof this invention, no reason exists to preclude such utilization.

Construction of the reservoir assembly 12 is illustrated in FIG. 2 wherethe shaft 22 of the applicator 14 is shown entering into the reservoirassembly 12 through a portal bushing 26. A reservoir body 28 affixes thebushing 26 and a sealing means 30 is affixed to the bushing 26 forpreventing leakage of the product from the product container 10. Forpurposes of simplification only, a sealing gland 32 having the sameconfiguration as that disclosed in my copending application Ser. No.348,l03 filed on even date herewith is utitized as the sealing means 30.As illustrated in FIG. 3, the sealing gland 32 is structured in the formofa tubular frame 34 on which a wiper means 36 for developing sealingforces against the applicator 14 and an annular lip 38 are integrallydisposed. The wiper means 36 is disposed across the longitudinal axis ofthe tubular frame 34 at one axial end thereof, whereas the annular lip38 is disposed on the interior wall of the tubular frame 34 at the otheraxial end thereof. The tubular frame 34 is conically shaped being ofminimum diameter at the wiper means end and of maximum diameter at theannular lip end.

The bushing 26 is fabricated of any suitable material, such as metal,and as illustrated in Flgv 3, is configured at its forward end to securethe sealing means 30. Because of the particular configuration of thesealing gland 32 utilized as the sealing means 30, the bushing 26 isconfigured to have an annular shoulder 40 and an annular groove 42. Atapered lead 44 is disposed on the annular shoulder 40 to facilitate theinterassembly of the sealing gland 32 to the bushing 26. On its otherend, the bushing 26 has male threads 46 for engaging the female threadson the applicator 14. A means for in terlocking with the reservoir body28 is disposed on the bushing 26 and includes a lip 48 and a means 50for penetrating the reservoir body 28. A conical passage 52 extendsthrough the bushing 26 and serves as an en trance for the applicator 14into the reservoir assembly 12.

Although the reservoir body 28 may have any overall configuration. forpurposes of simplification it is illustrated as being cylindricallyshaped with a chamber 54 having an opening at one end and it can befabricated of any suitable material, such as plastic. At its open endthe reservoir body 28 is configured to receive and retain the bushing26. This configuration includes a mouth 56, a groove 58, and apenetrable portion 60. The mouth 56 is sized to pass over thepenetrating means 50 on the bushing 26 but to present an interference tothe lip 48 thereon. The groove 58 is sized to receive the lip 48, whilethe penetrable portion 60 is sized to present an interference to thepenetrating means 50.

Before the bushing 26 is assembled into the reservoir body 28 thesealing means is affixed thereto. For the sealing gland 32 disclosedherein as the sealing means 30, this is accomplished by engaging theannular lip 38 thereof into the annular groove 42 on the bushing 26 andthereby an interlock is established therebetween. Then the bushing 26 isassembled into the reservoir body 28 by directing the sealing gland 32into the mouth 56 thereof, after which the bushing 26 is forceabiyinserted therein until the mouth 56 interferes with the lip 48. Thenwith the longitudinal axes of the bushing 26 and the reservoir body 28aligned, the inserting force is increased to enlarge the mouth 56 andpass the lip 48 into the groove 58 while simultaneously piercing thepenetrable portion 60 with the penetrating means 50. A tapered lead 62is provided on the lip 48 toward the forward end of the bushing 26 tofacilitate insertion of the bushing 26 into the reservoir body 28. Asthe bushing 26 is interlocked with the reservoir body 28, the tubularframe 34 and annular lip 38 on the sealing gland 32 are compressedtherebetween to create a peripheral seal (see FIG. 2) around the bushing26.

The useful life of the reservoir assembly 12 is enhanced considerably byincorporation of the bushing 26 therein. This is so because after thebushing 26 has been inserted into the reservoir body 28, no continualstress is required thereafter to retain the reservoir assembly 12against the thrust and torsional forces developed therein when it isutilized in the product container 10. Continual stress is avoided in thereservoir assem bly 12 of this invention because no interference fit aessential to its construction. The bushing 26 and reser" voir body 28are retained in assembly by the interlocking means with thrust forcestherebetween being trans lated through the engagement of the lip 48 withthe groove 58 and torsional forces therebetween being translated throughengagement of the penetrating means 50 into the penetrable portion 60.In conven' tional reservoir assemblies both the thrust and torsionalforces are translated through an interference fit which exerts continualstress between the bushing and the reservoir body. As time passes, thecontinual stress causes creep to occur in the materials, which lessensthe interference fit and results in failure of the reservoir assembly.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 3, the opening into the reservoir assembly 12is usually cylindrically shaped and, therefore, both the lip 48 on thebushing 26 and the groove 58 in the reservoir body 28 are annularlyshaped. However, where a reduction is desirable in the force required toassemble the bushing 26 and the reservoir body 28, the lip 48 mayconsist of a plurality of arcuate portions periodically disposed. Also,the lip 48- groove 58 combination can be reversed where conductive to aparticular application; that is, the lip can readily be disposed on thereservoir body and the groove can be readily disposed on the bushingvThe penetrating means 50 can also be of many different structuralarrangements depending on the application. Generally, the penetratingmeans 50 is comprised of a serrated surface having biting edges, such asa knurl, or an arrangement of teeth. In FIGS. 1-3, the penetrating means50 on the bushing 26 consists of peripherally disposed teeth 64 whichpierce into the penetrable portion 60 on the reservoir body 28 to resultin full peripheral engagement therebetween, as illustrated in FIG. 4.Therefore, the bit of the teeth 64 into the reservoir body 28 isparallel to the longitudinal axis of the bushing 26. In manyapplications, the torsional forces can be translated through less than afull peripheral engagement. Therefore, a reduction in the forcesrequired to assemble the bushing 26' into the reservoir body 28' can beachieved by grouping the teeth 64' periodically on the bushing 26', asillustrated in FIG. 5 where similar parts are identified by the samereference numerals as used in FIGS. 1-4, but with a prime addedvNaturally, this same result can be accomplished with the bushing 26shown in FIGS. 1-4 by disposing the penetrable portion periodically onthe reservoir body. Furthermore, teeth 66 can be disposed about theperiphery of the penetrable portion 60" at a different pitch to those onthe bushing 26", as illustrated in FIG. 6 where similar parts areidentified by the same reference numerals as used in FIGS. 1-4, but witha double prime added. The amount of material pierced by the teeth 64" onthe bushing 26" is proportional to the relative difference in pitch ofthe teeth 64" and 66 on the bushing 26" and the reservoir body 28"respectively. Of course, teeth could be disposed on the reservoir bodyof complementary size and pitch to the teeth on the bushing and therebyaccomplish the interlocking means through meshing rather than piercingto result in very little if any assembly force.

The lip 48 and the penetrating means 50 have been disclosed above asbeing separate and distinct for illustrative purposes only. It should berealized, of course, that the penetrating means 50 could be disposedintegrally on the lip 48, such as by distributing teeth over the taperedlead 62 thereof. In such an arrangement, the bite of the teeth into thereservoir body would project radially from the longitudinal axis of thebush- Those skilled in this art should readily appreciate that thebushing embodied by this invention may be utilized to provide aninterlock with a reservoir body and thereby avoid the exertion ofcontinual stress therebetween. Also, thrust forces are translated fromthe bushing by a lip which is engageable into a groove on the reservoirbody, while torsional forces are translated from the bushing bypenetrating means which is engageable with a penetrable portion on thereservoir body.

It should be understood that the present disclosure has been made onlyby way of example and that numerous changes in details of constructionand the combination or arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention. Therefore, thepresent disclosure should be construed as illustrative rather thanlimiting.

What I claim is:

l. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir body in a reservoirassembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator, said bushingcomprising:

a generally cylindrical body with a passage therethrough between a firstaxial end and a second axial end;

means for affixing a seal around the external periphery of saidcylindrical body, said affixing means being disposed on said first axialend; and

a lip for interlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetratinginto the reservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means beingdisposed on the external periphery of said cylindrical body between saidfirst axial end and said second axial end, said lip being engageablewith a groove in the reservoir body to translate thrust forcestherebetween and said penetrating means being engageable into apenetrable portion on the reservoir body to translate torsional forcestherebetween, said lip and said penetrating means being effective toretain said cylindrical body in the reservoir body with no continualstress being exerted therebetween.

2. The portal bushing of claim 1 wherein said lip is annularly disposedabout said bushing.

3. The bushing of claim 1 wherein said penetrating means includes teeth,said teeth being arranged to 5 pierce the penetrable portion on thereservoir body upon assembly of said bushing therewith.

4. The bushing of claim 3 wherein said teeth are disposed about the fullperiphery of said bushing, said teeth presenting a bite parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said bushing.

5. The bushing of claim 3 wherein said teeth are disposed in groupsperiodically about the periphery of said bushing, said teeth presentinga bite parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bushing.

6. The bushing of claim 1 wherein said lip is an nularly disposed aboutsaid bushing and said penetrating means includes teeth, said teeth beingarranged to pierce the penetrable portion on the reservoir body uponassembly of said bushing therewith.

7. The bushing of claim 6 wherein said teeth are disposed about the fullperiphery of said bushing, said teeth presenting a bite parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said bushing.

8. The bushing of claim 6 wherein said teeth are disposed in groupsperiodically about the periphery of said bushing, said teeth presentinga bite parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bushing.

9. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir body in a reservoirassembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator, said bushingcomprising:

a generally cylindrical body with a passage therethrough between a firstaxial end and a second axial end;

means for affixing a seal around the external periph- 35 cry of saidcylindrical body, said affixing means being disposed on said first axialend;

means for interconnecting the reservoir assembly to the applicator, saidinterconnecting means being disposed on said second axial end; and

a lip for interlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetratinginto the reservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means beingdisposed on the external periphery of said cylindrical body between saidfirst axial end and said second axial end, said lip being engageablewith a groove in the reservoir body to translate thrust forcestherebetween and said penetrating means being engageable into apenetrable portion on the reservoir body to translate torsional forcestherebetween, said lip and said penetrating means being effective toretain said cylindrical body in the reservoir body with no continualstress being exerted therebetween.

10. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir body in a reservoirassembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator, said bushingcomprising:

a generally cylindrical body with a passage therethrough between a firstaxial end and a second axial end;

means for affixing a seal around the external periphery of saidcylindrical body, said affixing means being disposed on said first axialend;

thread means for interconnecting the reservoir assembly to theapplicator, said thread means being disposed on said second axial end;and

a lip for interlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetratinginto the reservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means beingdisposed on late torsional forces therebetween, said lip and saidpenetrating means being effective to retain said cylindrical body in thereservoir body with no continual stress being exerted therebetween.

1. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir body in a reservoirassembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator, said bushingcomprising: a generally cylindrical body with a passage therethroughbetween a first axial end and a second axial end; means for affixing aseal around the external periphery of said cylindrical body, saidaffixing means being disposed on said first axial end; and a lip forinterlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetrating into thereservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means being disposed onthe external periphery of said cylindrical body between said first axialend and said second axial end, said lip being engageable with a groovein the reservoir body to translate thrust forces therebetween and saidpenetrating means being engageable into a penetrable portion on thereservoir body to translate torsional forces therebetween, said lip andsaid penetrating means being effective to retain said cylindrical bodyin the reservoir body with no continual stress being exertedtherebetween.
 2. The portal bushing of claim 1 wherein said lip isannularly disposed about said bushing.
 3. The bushing of claim 1 whereinsaid penetrating means includes teeth, said teeth being arranged topierce the penetrable portion on the reservoir body upon assembly ofsaid bushing therewith.
 4. The bushing of claim 3 wherein said teeth aredisposed about the full periphery of said bushing, said teeth presentinga bite parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bushing.
 5. The bushingof claim 3 wherein said teeth are disposed in groups periodically aboutthe periphery of said bushing, said teeth presenting a bite parallel tothe longitudinal axis of said bushing.
 6. The bushing of claim 1 whereinsaid lip is annularly disposed about said bushing and said penetratingmeans includes teeth, said teeth being arranged to pierce the penetrableportion on the reservoir body upon assembly of said bushing therewith.7. The bushing of claim 6 wherein said teeth are disposed about the fullperiphery of said bushing, said teeth presenting a bite parallel to thelongitudinal axis of said bushing.
 8. The bushing of claim 6 whereinsaid teeth are disposed in groups periodically about the periphery ofsaid bushing, said teeth presenting a bite parallel to the longitudinalaxis of said bushing.
 9. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir bodyin a reservoir assembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator,said bushing comprising: a generally cylindrical body with a passagetherethrough between a first axial end and a second axial end; means foraffixing a seal around the external periphery of said cylindrical body,said affixing means being disposed on said first axial end; means forinterconnecting the reservoir assembly to the applicator, saidinterconnecting means being disposed on said second axial end; and a lipfor interlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetrating intothe reservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means being disposedon the external periphery of said cylindrical body between said firstaxial end and said second axial end, said lip being engageable with agroove in the reservoir body to translate thrust forces therebetween andsaid penetrating means being engageable into a penetrable portion on thereservoir body to translaTe torsional forces therebetween, said lip andsaid penetrating means being effective to retain said cylindrical bodyin the reservoir body with no continual stress being exertedtherebetween.
 10. A portal bushing for use with a reservoir body in areservoir assembly to provide access thereinto for an applicator, saidbushing comprising: a generally cylindrical body with a passagetherethrough between a first axial end and a second axial end; means foraffixing a seal around the external periphery of said cylindrical body,said affixing means being disposed on said first axial end; thread meansfor interconnecting the reservoir assembly to the applicator, saidthread means being disposed on said second axial end; and a lip forinterlocking with the reservoir body and means for penetrating into thereservoir body, said lip and said penetrating means being disposed onthe external periphery of said cylindrical body between said first axialend and said second axial end, said lip being engageable with a groovein the reservoir body to translate thrust forces therebetween and saidpenetrating means being engageable into a penetrable portion on thereservoir body to translate torsional forces therebetween, said lip andsaid penetrating means being effective to retain said cylindrical bodyin the reservoir body with no continual stress being exertedtherebetween.